And benjamin fair



(No Model.)

H. FOSTER, Sr. & B. PAIRGHILD. COMBINED FLOUR SAFE AND SIFTER.

No. 425,772. Patented Apr. 15, 1890.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICEa HORACE FOSTER, SR, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, AND BENJAMIN FAIR- CHILD, OF IVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

COMBlNED FLOUR SAFE AND ,SIFTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,772, dated April 15, 1890. Application tiled December 30, 1389. Serial No. 335,349. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HORACE FOSTER, Sr., and BENJAMIN FAIRCHILD, citizens of the United States, the former residing at Knoxville, in'the county of Knox and State of Tennessee, and the latter residing at ashington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Flour Safes and Sifters; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in combined flour safes and sifters, which are particularly applicable to the invention covered by Letters Patent No. 390,219, and has for its object to efiectively agitate the flour in the safe or its hopper-bottom and to promote or expedite the feeding of the same therefrom to the sifter below, as also to give the flour a clear unobstructed passage from the safe or its hopper-bottom to the sifter as communi cation is established between them, preventing its lodgment in the feeding passage or tube of the sifter; and to these ends the invention consists of the detailed construction of the agitator, whereby it is adapted not only to, affect the flour directly, but also to act upon and jar the bottom of the safe or its hopper, and of the detailed construction and arrangement of the valve for opening and closing the feeding passage or tube between the safe or its hopper-bottom and the sifter, as will more fully appear from the following description and'accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of our improved combined flour safe and sifter. Fig. 2 is aside elevation thereof, the door of the supporting inclosure or cabinet being open; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

In carrying out our invention we employ a cabinet or inclosure A, having a door a, and upon this cabinet or inclosure is supported the flour safe or bin B, having a suitable cover I), all of substantially the same construction as that of the same-named parts disclosed in the above-referred-to patent. In the present invention, however, the safe or bin B is made with a bottom I) of hopper form, which depends through an opening in the top of the inclosure or cabinet A, and which has a marginal flange 19 with which engage buttons b on said top to secure the said safe or bin r'emovably upon said cabinet or inclosure, whereby the bin or safe is adapted to be readily removed, inverted, and stowed away in said inclosure or cabinet, as is done or practiced in shipping or transporting the utensil, the tapering portion of the hopper-bottom in that case projecting slightly out through the opening in the top of the cabinet or inclosure, while the sifter (hereinafter described) and the cover of the bin or safe are put into the latter.

0 is an agitator, as also a jarrer, which is a shaft-like rod having its bearings in the sides of the bin or safe B near its bottom, and is provided or formed with a central arcuate portion 0, the convexity of which is presented upward, and which moves through or in direct contact with the contents or flour in the bin or safe and loosens it. This shaft has also two downwardly looped or projecting crank-like portions or arms 0 c, which are adapted to have contact with the sloping sides of the hopper-like bottom I) of the bin or safe 13, and thus as the shaft is reciprocated effect the jarring of said bottom, which promotes 0r expedites the feeding downward along said bottom and out through its opening of the flour, which otherwise has a tendency to adhere thereto. The agitator O has one end of its shaft projecting some distance from the side of the bin or safe, and is bent into crank form and provided with a knob or hand-hold, thus forming a handle 0 which, as above in.- timated, is reciprocated or moved back and forth in effecting the feeding of the flour in the safe or bin to the sifter below.

D is a valve whose axis or stem (1 is hung or has its hearings in the hopper-bottom b of the bin or safe near its lower tapering end, and which shaft has one end terminating into a handle (1' for the convenient manipulation of the valve. This valve is somewhat concavoconvex in shape and closes or shuts off the downward passage or escape of the flour from the bin or'safe when the utensil is not in use.

The shaft or stem d of the valve D has abail flour passes on its way to the sitter below,

wholly unobstructed, preventing the lodgment of the flour therein.

Depending from the under side of the hopper-bottom b of the safe or bin B is a tube E, arranged in alignment with the opening in said bottom, and having adjusted thereon the sitter F, which is similar in all essential points to the sifter shown in the above-referred-to patent, having, however, herein a bayonetolnt connection e a with said tube. The flour, after treatment by the sitter F, is received into a suitable pan G, placed directly thereunder, as in the aforesaid patent. The bayonetjoint connection e e between the sifter F and the tube E of the hopper-bottom b of the bin permits the ready detachment or removal of the sifter whenever it may be found necessary to clean it or remove there-. from any foreign substance or accumulations, as also in shipping or transporting the utensil, as above intimated.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a combined flour safe or bin and sitter, the combinationfwith the bin having a hopper-bottom, of the agitator hung in said bin and having a central areuate portion and two arms, one on each side of the latter portion and adapted to strike or act upon said bottom, substantially as set forth.

2. In acombined flour safe or bin and sitter,

the combination, with the bin having a hopshaped and is hung in said bottom, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HORACE FOSTER, SR. BENJAMIN FAIRCI-IILD. Witnesses:

.T. W. MISTER, L. C. STRIDER. 

